Monday, 29 June 2009

The aurora australis came and wentIt was lost in the pastUngarettiYou lasted

Wherever you are read nowa searchlight beacon reachesinto fog

Born in the shade of the beam ofthe great lighthouseof Alexandriayou knew the hardEgyptian starstwenty yearsbefore you set footon the factual shoreof Italyto begin a pilgrimagein silenceat nightin the darkover mountainsdesertsfragmented bodiesOn high the fables blazeat the first hint of a breezethey'll flutter to earthwith the leavesbut when the wind picksup againthere will be a new starin the southern sky

2 comments:

Tom, thanks for this on Ungaretti--a poet I know too little about. And I've been in an Italian mood lately, too, watching Visconti's The Damned and The Leopard. Both are marvelous, but the latter really was something--and is based, as I'm sure you know, on the novel by Lampedusa. Anyway, thanks for this--I'll look up Ungaretti's work.

Thanks. The vision is not what it was so reading is not easy but with Ungaretti, no problem. To paraphrase Joe Tex, skinny lines and all. I find I can read him in my mind, no book, as on desert island. Immensity/illuminates me!